Temperance Coalition
The Temperance Coalition was a group of Exarchs within the Church of Humanity, Repentant, who represented mainly the oldest, most established, member sects of the CHR, and large congregations of freemen and serfs in such sects as the Devotees of the Good Work. They sought to make the decisions that would best ensure the good of their congregations. They made up the largest coalition within the Council of Exarchs. They were part of the Balance subfaction, and aligned with the Balance ideology of the Repentant faith. The Temperance coalition generally supported the Idealist subfaction in internal CHR politics. However they decisively broke with their Idealist allies and joined with the Liberatory Coalition to cast the decisive swing votes in favor of CHR accession to the Sector Trade Organization (STO). Response to Attacks on Orpheus In the summer of 3200, following rumors of war crimes committed by the Shrouded Maiden on Orpheus, the Temperance Coalition reiterated their commitment to just means of warfare and avoidance of war crimes. Post-STO Votes and Actions In the autumn of 3200, following the announcement of ACRE’s pending surrender to the High Church and Empire, and apparent end of the STO conflict, the Temperance Coalition either abstained or voted against any similar surrender by the CHR. They were persuaded by returning members of the Concord of Peace to consider aid to Orpheus and House Lyra. The Temperance Coalition also pledged to shelter the members of the Liberatory Coalition at least until such time as the election of the next Emperox. Shortly thereafter, following news of High Church concentration of presence on Yakiyah, in near range of Cabina, the Council of Exarchs dispatched a diplomat to the High Church to ascertain Imperial intentions regarding the CHR, Yakiyah, and Cabina. Upon hearing the news brought back by the diplomat (none of it good), the Temperance Coalition -- following heated discussion with the returning Idealist exarchs from the Concord of Peace -- voted to continue talks with the High Church and Empire. They voted to explore ways to adapt and reintegrate both the CHR and Cabina into the new Imperial status quo, and to explore any and all options available to protect and preserve the sects of the Repentant faith, the Cah-Binn on Cabina, Repentant adherents throughout the sector, and the network of synth support and protection covertly supported by the church. Despite their continued efforts to preserve the institution of the CHR, following a walkout of both the Liberatory Coalition and the returning Idealist Exarchs, and a withdrawal of support from Repentant sects across the sector, the Church of Humanity, Repentant officially dissolved soon after this final assembly. Quotes "We accept that sometimes conflict is unavoidable. There comes a time when one must take sides, however violently, to protect the innocent, or to effect lasting change. '' ''Even so, there are boundaries to what actions are acceptable, and what in the aftermath must be judged by the greater society. There are times we must say, “This far we will go, but no further.” The sword of righteousness must still discriminate. It must distinguish between the powerful who wield the cudgel of the crimes of Empire, and those powerless souls still indoctrinated, blinded, and caught in its clutches. To strike out, with little or no regard for such distinctions, is no true call to Repentance. '' ''Hellen Tyrconnel, also known as the Shrouded Maiden, must be found and returned to Cabina, to submit an accounting of her actions before the Council of Exarchs and the Concord. Let her acquit herself in the sights of her fellow Sentient Beings, or let through us the judgment of the Divine fall on her, as it will fall on us all when our day has come.” - High Exarch Daniel Silverlock Patel, Head Judicator, Department of Arbitration, Summer 3200 “I will not turn over my siblings to the show-trials of House of Crux, nor to the blasphemous ceremony of excommunication. If asked, we will tell them: Judgement for our actions is not for men to give, but for the divine alone to render. We expect your Emperox to advise you on how that is done. Look to your Messiah if you must.” - High Exarch Daniel Silverlock Patel, Head Judicator, Department of Arbitration, Late Summer 3200 “We despaired of the possibility of peaceful change. We turned to violent means to undermine the machineries of dehumanization and injustice upheld by both High Church of Messiah of Emperox and the Houses Noble. We supported any activities we believed would aid in this upheaval and opening for change. Now that the sector stands poised on the precipice of peace -- what now do we do? Can we trust this peace? Can we turn so swiftly from violence to disarmament and reparations? Either way I recognize no authority in the High Church to broker such “peace” and trust no peace with its accursed stamp. Moreover, we will '''not' say, "Let us bury our deeds on from the eyes of the world." We will not erase and we must not forget. We will instead say, “I have turned my hand against my brother, my sister, my sibling, my equal." We will erect monuments of mourning and remembrance. And we will repent for our weakness and our ignorance and our sin. We will repent for our failure to find the better way: the way that could turned the course of Empire and saved our siblings, without this shedding of blood.”'' - unnamed speaker, Autumn, 3200, response to ACRE's surrender What we preach matters, and what we teach influences the sector. Thus there are things I will not and cannot say or teach, because I know what effect our words will have. When our Church proclaimed that violence and genocide were just, this influenced those who looked to us for guidance. When we proclaimed the synth had a soul, this too influenced the sector. And if our Church now proclaims the synthetic soulless...of course this too will have an effect. We alone, now, preach the true nature of the soul as something universal to all conscious beings, synths included, or at least implied. Who if not us keeps this flame lit? If the High Church desires to end our Church’s speech, let them commit to destroying us. I will not voluntarily give false moral and spiritual guidance and direction to this sector. I will not let my words empower their machinery of blasphemy and injustice. Nor will I offer our resources to similarly empower them, which they will then only turn upon those next to defy then. '' ''If they refuse to let us preach what we believe, then let our Church fight. If we think even fighting the High Church may yet empower them -- then let us quietly leave and scatter ourselves to the four winds of this Empire. Let our Church hand what we may have to the few groups who yet care to bear witness to our name. And then let us leave our legacy as food for the seeds we and others have sown, scattered now the winds, and left to bloom without our guidance. If there is a future dawn it is not ours to see or bear. - unnamed speaker, Late Autumn, 3200, in response to seeing initial High Church terms of surrender brought back by a CHR diplomat Publications * Concerning Rumors & War: Responses to Rumors from Orpheus (Twitter link) - Summer 3200 * The Four Deeds of the Empire Repentant (gdocs link, Twitter link) - Summer 3200 * Statement of Shared Values - Summer 3200 * Letter to the Repentant of Acheron Rho: Balance (Twitter link) - Winter 3200 Mentions in the News * SPECIAL REPORT! Leaked Recordings of the Autumn 3200 Proceedings of the Council of Exarchs! (Twitter link) ** Responses to ACRE's surrender. * SPECIAL REPORT! EMERGENCY SESSION of the Council of Exarchs! (Twitter link) ** Responses to High Church presence on Yakiyah. * BREAKING NEWS: SCHISM! (Twitter link) ** Deepening conflict in the CHR over how to respond to STO defeat, High Church hegemony, and a changing sector leads a schism of its governing body, the Council of Exarchs. * BREAKING NEWS: END OF THE DSC? (Twitter link) ** Violence breaks out between Balance and Liberator members of the Department of Special Circumstances as Liberators attempt to seize weapons and armaments. The Governor of Cabina steps in. * BREAKING NEWS: Hall of Concord in Flames! (Twitter link) ** The protesting Liberators (and some Temperance Coalition individuals) do what they think needs to be done to secure the "peace" that Cabina and the rest of the Repentant faithful seem intent on pursuing. * Statement from the Governor's Office (Twitter link) ** Now no more than a shell of its former self, with its leadership fractured and having lost the sects that federated it, the CHR formally dissolves as an entity. Category:The Church of Humanity, Repentant Category:CHR Sects or Religious Orders